DT28964

Daily Telegraph Cryptic No 28964

A full review by crypticsue

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BD Rating – Difficulty * – Enjoyment ***

A fairly typical Saturday Prize Puzzle – lots of anagrams and lurkers, with a couple of clues to make the solver smile

If you want to see what people thought of this crossword on the day of publication, then look here:  http://bigdave44.com/2019/02/02/dt-28964-hints/

Across

1a    Game commander advanced position (10)
BRIDGEHEAD – BRIDGE (game) HEAD (commander)

6a    Fellow feeling secure? (4)
BOND – Double definition – fellow feeling or a verb meaning to secure. Is there some plot at Telegraph Towers to make the top right-hand clue/solution particularly troublesome? Be interesting to see whether the same thing happens tomorrow 

10a    Fish was whiffy (5)
SMELT – A type of fish or a way of saying was whiffy

11a    Time after trial to pen the last word in witness statement (9)
TESTAMENT – T (time) goes after TEST (trial) after AMEN (the last word) has been ‘penned’ or inserted

12a    Cleaner concealing private part of book (7)
CHAPTER – CHAR (cleaner) ‘concealing’ PTE (private)

13a    Sit around in kind of knitwear made by craftsman (7)
ARTISAN – A reversal (around) of SIT (from the clue) inserted into ARRAN (kind of knitwear)

14a    Drunk trembled, wine causing confusion (12)
BEWILDERMENT – An anagram (drunk) of TREMBLED WINE

18a    Career he soon abandoned — it offers little competition (3-5,4)
ONE-HORSE RACE – An anagram (abandoned) of CAREER HE SOON

21a    What’s bust it? an iceberg’s fragment (7)
TITANIC – My favourite clue – hidden in a fragment of busT IT AN ICeberg

23a    Fancy silver collected by one working underground (7)
IMAGINE – AG (chemical symbol for silver) ‘collected by’ I (one) MINE (underground working)

24a    Providing a fine crossing (9)
AFFORDING – A (from the clue) F (fine) FORDING (crossing)

25a    Name adopted by one famous acting style (5)
GENRE – N (name) ‘adopted by’ GERE (Richard Gere – one famous [for his] acting)

26a    Cheat, say, repelled magistrate (4)
DOGE – DO (cheat) followed by a reversal (repelled) of EG (say)

27a    Tinier boys disorderly, being drunk (10)
INSOBRIETY – An anagram (disorderly) of TINIER BOYS

Down

1d    Independent religious group following bishop to create schism? (6)
BISECT – I (independent) SECT (religious group) following B (Bishop)

2d    In LA, professional killer in charge upset celebrity (3,3)
ICEMAN – IC (in charge) plus a reversal (upset) of NAME (celebrity)

3d    Take a walking holiday? Then Mrs May might do this! (2,2,3,7)
GO TO THE COUNTRY – I seem to remember that Mrs May decided while on a walking holiday that she’d GO TO THE COUNTRY and call a general election. I wonder if she’d have made the same decision if she’d been sunning herself on the beach?

4d    Most Irish dancing is random (3-2-4)
HIT-OR-MISS – An anagram (dancing) of MOST IRISH

5d    Characters in Sierra estate overturned cruising? (2,3)
AT SEA – Hidden in reverse (overturned) in some of the characters in sierrA ESTAte

7d    One manages old piece of poetry with little hesitation (8)
OVERSEER – O (old) VERSE (piece of poetry) with ER (little hesitation)

8d    Let off appointment college introduced (8)
DETONATE – ETON (college) introduced to DATE (appointment)

9d    Artillery and cavalry unit’s what’s needed to restore power (7,7)
BATTERY CHARGER – BATTERY (artillery) and CHARGER (cavalry horse)

15d    Showing embarrassment, put up with drummer catching daughter in bold action (7-2)
DERRING-DO – When this appeared in another crossword earlier in the week, I wondered whether anyone ever did acts of DERRING-DO anymore? Well, obviously, in Crosswordland they do. A reversal (put up) of RED (showing embarrassment) with RINGO (Starr, drummer) ‘catching’ D (daughter)

16d    Show anger over help for Egyptian city (4,4)
PORT SAID – A reversal (over) of STROP (show anger) followed by AID (help)

17d    Poet with gift for sorting out quibble (8)
PETTIFOG – An anagram (for sorting out) of POET with GIFT

19d    Intended to separate the first knight from money (6)
FIANCE – Separate or remove the first N (knight in chess notation) from FINANCE (money)

20d    Words introducing unknown religious belief not generally accepted (6)
HERESY – HERE’S (words introducing) Y (mathematical unknown)

22d    Copyright article about Irish terrier (5)
CAIRN – C (copyright) and AN (indefinite article) ‘about’ IR (Irish)